Filipinos will be hungrier under Chacha – ANAKBAYAN

June 5, 2010

July 20, 2009

Filipinos will be hungrier under Chacha – ANAKBAYAN

Youth group ANAKBAYAN today warned that Charter Change would worsen the incidence of hunger in the country, saying the recent sale/lease of hundreds of thousands of hectares of farmlands in Ilocos and Mindoro are “portents of things to come”.

It was announced recently that 500,000 hectares in Northern Luzon would be planted with biofuel plants for Japanese consumption, while 94,000 hectares in Mindoro would be planted with corn to be used as animal feed in South Korea.

“It seems Gloria Arroyo has a novel way to address the problem of hunger: because the price of rice has risen, she wants us to substitute it with biofuel and animal feed in our daily diets”, said ANAKBAYAN Chairperson Ken Ramos.

He explained that the Filipino people would not benefit because the sold or leased land would not be planted with food crops and were not even for local consumption. “Many countries devote most of their farmlands to food production so they can achieve self-sufficiency. Hence, they are looking in other countries for land to plant their non-food crops.”

Ramos added that even the ‘job generation argument’ was deceptive, as agricultural workers are paid even less than industrial workers.

“Mass actions are needed against Arroyo’s mass starvation. We will hold protests in campuses and communities nationwide, which will culminate in class walkouts on July 24 and 27, as ANAKBAYAN’s contribution to the ‘Pambansang Bigwas sa Con-ass’ multisectoral campaign”, said Ramos.

ANAKBAYAN will kick-off its week-long activities with a march by high school students to the House of Representatives on Wednesday. ###